The New York Times

Thursday, June 3, 1999

ESSAY

By WILLIAM SAFIRE

T-Day Plus 10 Years

- Wei Jingsheng Looks ahead -

WASHINGTON -- "The press in China was freer then," recalls Wei Jingsheng, the dissident forced into exile in the U.S., of the day exactly a decade ago when Beijing's rulers massacred Chinese students and workers demonstrating for democracy.

Wei was in prison at the time for advocating freedom on "Democracy Wall" years before. He was allowed to watch the official television news, and saw a man standing in front of a tank, arresting its progress.

But this was not the same picture that was front-paged all over the world. The other confrontation, the one Wei was watching, took place in front of the Military Museum, three miles from Tiananmen Square, where much of the bloody work was done.

"There were many other examples of courage," says Wei. "Chinese people will never forget what happened that day."

I wanted to have dinner with Wei this week because I admire anti-Communist dissidents. When names like Jiang and Clinton and Brezhnev are forgotten, memories of this century's heroic dissidents -- Andrei Sakharov, Anatoly Shcharansky and Wei Jingsheng -- will endure.

That's because they have done what no politician or Kremlinologist or China-watcher dreamed of doing. By publicly daring the most despotic systems to do their worst to silence them, the dissidents of our time -- like the biblical Job -- awoke the world's conscience to human rights.

Wei is a stocky, intelligent man with a shock of black hair, a quick smile and an uncompromising attitude who has some other dissidents here wishing he had stayed in jail another 18 years. Of their disunity, he says: "If you can find an American leader who unifies the people, I will go and study with him."

Are most Chinese angry at the U.S.? "The Communist leaders are trying to channel dissatisfaction against Westerners, and against pro-Western Chinese. But people are not sheep to be so easily manipulated."

The average Chinese reaction to being caught lifting our nuclear technology? "It may not be good for the democracy movement for me to say this, but you cannot fault the Chinese Government for stealing secrets. Many people always thought the U.S. was leaking the secrets to Beijing on purpose, along with the technology being sold, and are confused about why you now take offense."

The top leaders? "Jiang Zemin, whose son is a billionaire, blows with the wind. Li Peng is a hard-liner with limited intelligence. Zhu Rongji tries to save the ship from sinking, but to what end -- to prolong the life of the Communist Party? Befuddling."

The People's Liberation Army? "The P.L.A. is not a seamless entity. There is a faction of high officers who benefit from corruption, and another of lower rank who dissent from corruption. In that situation, accidents and coups can happen."

What's with the demonstration by 15,000 Falun Gong followers outside the leaders' compound? "When regimes weaken," said Wei, "popular religious movements and superstitions become significant. There are a hundred sects like Falun Gong, which means that people long for faith in some ideology, a new source of guidance. The Government recognizes the danger and is anxious for ways to control their growth."

Is China playing the Russian card against America? He smiled at the allusion to a reverse Nixonian strategy: "The Deputy Prime Minister, Qian Qichen, wants to draw in Russia to bolster China against the U.S. But Primakov was more concerned about dealing with NATO. Now Primakov's gone, and we'll have to see."

Today, T-Day plus 10 years, President Clinton will issue a statement challenging Congress to extend "most favored nation" trade privileges to China for another year. (Spinmeisters in the pro-China lobby are trying to change that historic phrase to "normal trade relations" to make it more palatable, and many in the media will meekly obey.)

I think Congress should vote to suspend trade privileges for China. Clinton will veto the bill and the Senate will sustain his veto, giving China its annual reprieve. That minuet is a good way of reminding Beijing how dependent it is on the American market -- just as patriots like Wei Jingsheng remind us how the spark of democratic spirit is alive among Chinese.